The product that I am marketing is the Apple iPhone 6. It is the latest in the line of iPhone models created by Apple. The recommended retail price for the product will be £599 for the 16GB model, £649 for the 32GB and £730 for the 64 GB model. There will also be many Pay Monthly tariffs available. The main focus of the campaign will be the speed of the phone compared to previous iPhone models and other phones. There will also be a lot of focus on some of the new features, such as the new camera which will have 10 megapixels.
Marketing Mix
TV Promotion - There will be multiple adverts each focusing on a new or improved feature of the phone.
Social Networks - A twitter account and Facebook page will be created for the iPhone 6. They will have regular updates about the product and links to other promotions for the phone, such as YouTube videos of TV adverts.
Print Ads - There will be adverts for the iPhone 6 in many places, for example computer magazines and on billboards
Computer Magazines - Interviews with people involved in the creation of the product and celebrities who have tested the product.
Website Promotion - The Apple website will have an image of the iPhone 6 on the home page with some links to videos about the product.
Aims of the Campaign
Obviously the main aim of the marketing campaign is to sell lots of iPhones and make lots of money. However, some other things that I hope to achieve with the campaign include raising the profile of the iPhone brand and making more people aware of the capabilities that an iPhone has. I also want to keep previous buyers of iPhones interested in iPhones while also finding even more people who will want to purchase an iPhone. I hope that my campaign will put the iPhone back as the top smartphone and make people want to purchase an iPhone rather than any other smartphone.
SWOT: Review of the Current Market
Strengths: Apple already have a very good reputation and are one of the biggest and most well-known companies in the world giving it very good brand recognition. Furthermore the iPhone itself has been very successful with millions of sales for each model. Apple had a very good financial base so they could create a strong marketing campaign. Apple also have staff with relevant skills, researchers who would be able to develop a product that people will want to buy and marketing staff who could promote the product well.
Weaknesses: People may not be happy with the idea of a 'walled garden' where they are being dictated by a certain company for example only being able to download apps from the Apple app store. Other smartphones offer a wide range of apps so people may be tempted to buy these phones instead. Another concern is that the new iPhone may not have enough new features to make people want to buy it. The iPhone 4S. for example, was not a massive change from the iPhone 4. As there is a new iPhone model every few years, people may not want to buy the new one because they know that within a few years they will not have the latest model.
Opportunities: Smartphones have become increasingly popular recently with most people now owning one. This means that Apple will not find it hard to sell the concept of a smartphone because everybody already knows about them and like them. Nowadays it is seen as cool to own a iPhone so people may feel like they need to have one. Apple can easily use this to their advantage to sell the product. Many people are loyal to Apple and will buy their products simply because it is an Apple product.
Threats: Because of the recession, many people are becoming much more conscious about money. Due to this, Apple may face a problem when trying to sell their products because most of their products are high-priced. Another threat to the iPhone is the large amount of competition it now faces. There are lots of other smartphones which are cheaper and have similar features. Android phones have an advantage over iPhones because they have a much wider range of apps available.
Potential Market
The iPhone 6 would be aimed at 13-30 year old males and females. However it is not going to exclude other people from buying it. It will be fairly simple to use with most things being done with a tap on the screen meaning that people will not have to be 'tech-savvy' to use it. It will be very useful for people who enjoy listening to music because of the large memory of the phone (16GB minimum). Due to the high quality camera, photography students or people who simply enjoy taking photos will find the iPhone 6 very useful. Businessmen and woman will also find the phone very useful because of its ability to store information and because of the business-centered apps that are available on the app store.
Young people would enjoy the large variety of games and entertaining apps that are available. Buying the iPhone 6 on a Pay as You Go tariff will require a high amount of disposable income, however there will also be Pay Monthly tariffs which will cost a lower initial price.
Direct Marketing
One form of direct marketing we will use is email marketing. Emails will be sent to everyone currently on the Apple customer database as well as some people through a cold list. This should gain us lots of buyers for the iPhone 6. We are also going to make use of search engine optimisation to target people who are searching for relevant terms. We will also place adverts on the web on a variety of websites including Google. A Twitter account and Facebook page will be created for the iPhone 6. There will be regular updates on these, with information about the product and links to TV adverts on YouTube. We will place banner ads on apps and QR codes in magazines or on bus stops in bigger cities such as London. We will also send push notifications to people with smartphones in cities with an Apple store, such as London or Birmingham.
Indirect MarketingAdvert for the product will be placed on billboards which will be seen by lots of people of all ages. In places like London, there will be adverts on some bus stops.
This should help to draw in a lot of potential buyers of the iPhone 6. Adverts will also be placed in computer and technology magazines. In some magazines, there will be interviews of some of the people involved in the creation of the product and people that have tested prototypes.
Gaining Feedback
Due to the massive popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, I have decided to use these to gain feedback regarding my product. A questionnaire will be placed on the iPhone 6 Facebook page and a link will be tweeted on the iPhone 6 Twitter account. This should be able to reach people in my target audience but also people who are not. This will be useful because we will find out why people like the product but also why people don't which might allow us to make the next generation of iPhone appealing to even more people. I will present the product to a focus group to find out what they think is good with the product and what they think should be changed.
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